Shades of Grey
by Sage Raven
Summary: One-shot. When confronted by Batman, Raven is surprised by his reaction—or lack of one—towards her relationship with the renowned thief, Red X. RedXRae & BMCW.


**Author's Notes:** What's up? It's been a while. This is a **three-shot** (as in, three chapters).**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own any of these comic book/cartoon characters.**  
Pairings:** Red X/Raven and Batman/Catwoman. Don't like, don't read.

* * *

"Lots of us make bad choices romantically. It's not usually punishable by death."  
--Catwoman (_Catwoman_ #57)

* * *

When the first silhouette of Gotham's protector fell across the Tower's living room floor, Raven was in her room, meditating. The Titans had received word about a week earlier that the Batman would arrive in order to deal with a thief that Robin was—surprisingly—reluctant to chase. In any case, that was Batman's "official" reason for being in "Robin's territory."

Raven knew the real reason was because Robin was becoming increasingly obsessive about Slade. Cyborg had quietly contacted the Dark Knight, asking for the man to come and speak with Robin before he did something…irrational. It was only a matter of luck that a Gotham thief had entered Jump, giving Batman an excuse to deal with his young protégé.

Robin had no clue, had _no _idea…and that was why she had retreated into her room the moment she sensed Batman's presence in Jump.

Raven let out a small sigh when she heard Robin's indignant shouts and Starfire's pleas. There was a small crash and Cyborg's cursing…

She, of course, understood Robin's anger and frustration—after all, she shared a connection with him. He felt that he had a lot to live up to (being trained by Batman and all) and he thought he had been doing a good job—he _had_ been doing a good job. But he made every case too personal, he became too _obsessed_…and that wasn't healthy.

Hence the need for Batman's intervention.

She sighed again as another crash echoed throughout the Tower. Robin's…tantrum, for the lack of a better word, was getting noisy, making it hard to concentrate…she stood from her bed and promptly phased through the ceiling of the room. Within seconds, Raven was standing on the Tower's roof.

It was a nice night, she decided absently, preparing herself for her meditation. The dark sky was clear, not a cloud in sight, although the stars were not visible…damn city lights. The breeze and the accompanying salty scent of the ocean were comforting…she crossed her legs into her favorite meditating position and began. "_Azarath Metrion Zinthos…_"

An hour later, Raven straightened up from her position and turned to enter the Tower once more. However, she froze, surprised to see Batman standing a few yards behind her. She couldn't read his expression—damned mask—nor could she figure out how exactly the human was able to sneak up behind her without her detecting him.

The two dark-caped heroes stared at each other for a few tense seconds before Raven broke eye contact—or what she _thought_ was eye contact, she couldn't really tell as the lenses of his mask hid his eyes from view—and took a few steps towards the door.

"Robin has asked me to speak with you about Red X."

Raven froze, her eyes narrowing. She slowly turned to face Batman and responded, slowly, "My relationship with Red X is of no consequence."

Red X was still a thief, still stealing jewels and other priceless artifacts…_that_ much hadn't changed. But, at one point, X had started to…turn his attention away from Robin to…well, Raven…only, not in a taunting way. He seemed to be actually attracted to and interested in her…normally, that wasn't enough to warrant Robin's suspicions.

Only, Raven was also a bit attracted to X. He was just a thief, after all, and although he wasn't exactly a "good guy," he wasn't a villain either. He was just a selfish man—boy, whatever he was—and, although she knew it was still _wrong_ to like him…she did. Like him, that is.

Only she had never admitted that little tidbit to anyone but herself (and even then, it was only in the deep recesses of her mind, in vague dreams and nightmares, never consciously) and like _Hell_ would she ever admit it to Robin.

Or Batman.

Batman only nodded to her harsh statement, not even turning to look at her. He was completely unfazed by her response and she could tell that he wanted to speak with her almost as much as she wanted to speak with him. "I realize," He replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, before continuing. "I only say so because Robin has asked me to. If he confronts you, you can let him know that I've kept my word."

Raven hesitated, surprised by Batman's reaction…or lack of one. He honestly seemed not to _care_ about the fact that a hero supposedly had a relationship with a thief, a _villain_ (not that _she_ did, mind you). It piqued her curiosity; _why_ didn't he care? She was tempted to ask, but didn't; after all, she was _Raven_.

Though she was curious, she didn't really care enough to ask.

Besides, curiosity killed the cat.

That thought made her pause; Raven's eyes widened. Is _that_ why…? She had seen enough of tabloids and Robin's memories that she realized…_oh._ _That_ was why he didn't care. She studied the Dark Knight and almost smiled. Almost.

She'd always believed that Batman was just an older version of Robin. She could see now that that was not the case. Robin saw the world in black and white…she now understood that Batman could identify the grey areas in life.

The grey that included Red X…

…and Catwoman.

Batman nodded once, as if he knew that Raven had figured out exactly _why_ he wasn't extremely concerned with Raven's…romantic interests (because the detective also knew what Raven herself did not want to realize). The corner of his lips twitched slightly before he said, with a somewhat humorous undertone, "Tell Robin that I've left. I have a thief to catch, after all."

Raven normally would have been annoyed with an order, but she was too amused…so, instead, she stood quietly and watched as Batman dived off the roof of the Tower. She turned to the door and entered the Titan's home.

Well, at least she knew why Robin was so slow to respond to the news that a new thief was in town, why he seemed almost _nervous_ to confront the new villain. It also explained why he hadn't protested Batman's involvement…(because, even though the thief was from Gotham, she was now in Jump City, the Titans' territory, and therefore, the _Titans'_ responsibility).

_Catwoman_ was in Jump City.

So when Robin appeared in front of her and gave her an expectant stare, Raven adopted a properly semi-chatised (well, as chatised as _Raven_ could get) look, leaving the young hero looking smug and feeling that at least _something_ had been accomplished.

And when Raven entered her room to find a bouquet of blood red roses and a note ("For being able to put up with the traffic light's tantrums. –X"), she only smirked.

Maybe Robin didn't understand, but at least Batman did…

The world was more than black and white.

There were shades of grey in between.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Yes, that's it for this chapter. The next chapters will have more with BMCW and RedXRae…so, if you like one but not the other, just skip the parts. The next chapter will be more from Batman's POV and the third chapter will actually have some action in it. Yeah.

I'm sorry if Rae or Batman is out of character…it's been a while since I've written a Teen Titan fic…and it's the first time I've ever written Batman. So…yeah. Thank you for reading. Constructive criticism is appreciated and I'll be back soon.


End file.
